Protective garments are well known to provide protection for a user in many different types of sports where sudden impact occurs as a result of activity or is a very real possibility, such as football, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, basketball, baseball and the like. Protective garments are worn to protect the user, such as athletes, from the energy force that results from sudden impact. Protective garments and equipment designed for use in contact sports typically rely on two modes of dissipating energy from impact forces, padding and shielding. Padding typically dissipates the energy force through elastic deformation of the padding material, while shielding deflects a portion of the energy force away from the body.
While there are numerous protective garments within the industry, one of the major problems in designing effective athletic gear is the need to balance protection with mobility. The proper balance can also be dependent upon the specific sport, such as to provide minimal restriction by the user for the types of movements that are utilized in that sport. For example, activities in football often result in sudden impact in the front and/or side portions of the body, such as the shoulders, head, hips, thighs and knee areas, whereas hockey and/or lacrosse also can receive sudden impact from a stick or the solid puck/ball in the front, side and/or backside portions of the body, including the elbows, triceps, forearm, lumbar area and/or buttocks. The proper balance can also be dependent upon the particular type of player in the respective sport, such as a quarterback compared to a defensive lineman in football or a goaltender compared to a center in hockey.
Some protective garments, such as shirts, shorts or pants, have used padding and/or segmented padding that is inserted into pockets or openings in the garment, which adds to the bulk of the garment and impedes mobility. Other protective garments have used segmented or articulated padding and/or shielding located on the exterior of the garment, which leaves interstices and/or joints between padding segments within which flexing and bending can take place. Placing the segmented or articulated padding and/or shielding on the outside of the garment, however, provides its own difficulties for padding located proximate the user's joint, such as the interstices in the segmented and/or articulated padding becoming bigger or wider when the proximate joint is flexed resulting in inadequate dissipation of energy force for protection.
Therefore, a need exists for garments with protective padding that provides a proper balance of protection and mobility to the user where sudden impact to the backside of the body is common while also providing adequate protection to joints throughout the entire range of motion.